RE: Is it time to buy8 Mar 2026 20:38
On broker forecasts, the most recent note from Allenby Capital (January 2026) models FY26 revenue of approximately £2.25m, rising from £1.97m in FY25, with FY27 forecast at around £2.8m. The broker notes that achieving the FY26 forecast requires a stronger second half performance, with roughly £1.4m expected in H2, reflecting improving conditions in the biotech funding environment and increased client activity.
The forecasts also show losses narrowing materially as revenue recovers, with adjusted EBITDA improving from around -£1.7m in FY25 to roughly -£0.7m in FY26, with the business potentially approaching operational breakeven in the following years. Importantly, the broker commentary suggests these forecasts largely reflect recovery in the core CRO business, with no significant contribution from OptiMAL assumed in the near term, meaning any meaningful platform revenues would represent upside to those estimates.
In relation to OptiMAL, the placing documentation and broker commentary indicate that the launch has generated a positive response, with several organisations already progressing to the target disclosure stage under NDAs. At the time of launch, the company estimated the OptiMAL / Mammalian Display opportunity pipeline to be in excess of £1m, although these prospects remain at an early stage.
It is also worth noting that during the pre-launch investor webinar the company did not disclose that potential clients had already progressed to NDA and target disclosure discussions. To me this indicates that opportunities have already been moving through the early stages of the sales funnel, rather than the platform starting from a completely cold position at launch.
I also think the ongoing engagement with the US National Cancer Institute is particularly encouraging. The NCI could realistically work with almost any discovery technology globally, yet they have already used OptiMAL successfully on multiple targets and are now in discussions to extend that work. The fact that they were comfortable with Fusion publicly stating that commercial discussions are underway is, in my view, meaningful validation of the platform’s utility. As a major US public research institution, that level of endorsement carries weight.
The broker also notes that a typical OptiMAL antibody generation project may be around $200k initially, with the potential to generate up to ~$2m over time if projects progress into later stages such as cell line development.
Taken together, to me this suggests that commercial discussions are underway but that discovery platform projects naturally take time to progress through scientific engagement, NDAs and formal contract negotiation before translating into signed deals or recognised revenue.
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